Comments

@ New walk Way "I know the Upperton Road/Western/Eastern Boulevard area well and have watched it evolve, on and off, since the early 1970s. The removal of the railway bridge created a wonderful opportunity for planners, developers and architects. Standing with your back to the Liberty Statue, it opened up a vista all the way to Fosse Road and beyond."
It's as if we know you - this is precisely the argument we used when opposing the Code building on Upperton Road, sadly an opportunity missed, as the area becomes surrounded by tall buildings and as dominated by these structures as when the viaduct was there. Don't forget the terrible, new Western Rd accomodation, which is now looming over the two storey skyline (work has recommenced we note).
But yes, credit where credit is due, this developer can work sympathetically with historic buildings - but why he chooses not to here, is beyond us. That said previous track record suggests that you ask for more than you are ever likely to get, appear to compromise (magnanimously) and end up with what you wanted all along...

I should add that, when I say `something fresh and new', I'm talking about a use for the building; not suggesting that it should be replaced.
I know the Upperton Road/Western/Eastern Boulevard area well and have watched it evolve, on and off, since the early 1970s. The removal of the railway bridge created a wonderful opportunity for planners, developers and architects. Standing with your back to the Liberty Statue, it opened up a vista all the way to Fosse Road and beyond.
To my mind, the Great Central Railway Wagon Works is by far the most important building you see. Apart from its intrinsic interest, it serves as a symbol of Leicester's industrial past, a remnant of the Great Central Railway of which it was a part and It complements the modernity of the CODE and other modern buildings. It is almost certainly the only structure that would excite a visitor's curiosity sufficiently for them to want to explore it further.
It needs to be preserved - but equally importantly it needs to be prerserved in a way that will retain its integrity and character and benefit the area more generally. Tuning it into a motorised take-away may tick the first box but does it tick any of the others?

This isn't a simple tale of `Greedy Developer Lays Waste to Leicester's Heritage'. Jamie Lewis's work on the Equity Shoe factory and the Gimson Houses on Gimson Road shows that he is more than capable of sensitively converting historical properties when he wants to.
The question that baffles me is why, with such an impressive track record of historical conversions behind him, he seem so hell-bent on forcing through a project that is embarrassingly let down by the inclusion of a drive-thru restaurant that would have been outdated twenty years ago.
Yes, we've all seen and loved `American Graffiti' but the 1980s should have taught us that the English are not good at this kind of thing. No matter how much you stretch your imagination, Upperton Road, Leicester will never, ever feel like Burbank, California. This is a colossally silly, backward-looking idea which fits incongruously with the sleek, modern, high-tech statement made by the CODE building nearby.
If students are as bright as they were when I was at University, this will cut no mustard with them at all. What the area needs is something fresh and new - maybe with a little bit of sophistication. Not a stale, reheated version of 1950s Americana.

@colarrey. I don't think it is even veiled blackmail, it appears to be blackmail pure and simple. I don't believe this 'developer' has ever been told he can't have what he wants, even from a young age. Not nice.

Does not surprise me, never liked him even when I was his tenant all he thought about was money and never cared about the property(or so it felt).
Personally i'm fed up with all the new builds for students in the area and think we should keep the beautiful old buildings.
If he brought the land and building on the promise that it would have £10m refurbishment on it, he should stick to it or hand it all back... as @colarrey says it seems like a form of blackmail

The petition opposes conversion to a drive-thru, specifically. A health centre would be welcomed, and we do support the, broadly sympathetic, work by the architects. It is important to keep this building, but is it worth paying so high a price?

20th Nov 2012
Jamie Lewis said:
"While we did not previously consider the sheds to be of great architectural merit or of local interest compared to many other old buildings in the city, we clearly got this wrong.
It is evident the history of Great Central Railway and its associated buildings are of significant interest to the community, as well as railway enthusiasts."
14th Dec 2013
Demolition is back on the cards.
Isn't this is rather at odds with what was said previously?